Marshall finally returns to the wedding party in the most amazing way possible! Darren the Devil tries breaking up friendships right and left—arguably intentionally—and destroying wedding bands. And one more person gets to meet The Mother.So, who was most responsible for Ted and The Mother meeting? Marshall? Lily? Barney and Robin? Will the whole cast end up playing a key role? Determined to walk from his five-mile bus stop, The Mother picks up Marshall and Marvin for the last, final, leg of their long journey. They both inspire one another to stand up to their problems and face confrontation.(For the...

I sat here for five minutes after the episode aired and tried to think of how it could metaphorically parallel pizza.I just made myself very hungry. Lily made her angry face because she and Marshall, for the last six years and eight seasons, assumed Ted never got them a wedding present. Ted thinks, conversely, he got Lily and Marshall the one-tier-down coffee maker for their wedding present, and that he never received a Thank You Note. But I mean, who really writes thank you notes? As it turned out, Marshall owed him the note, after an error by Stuart, and...

Ted had to re-confront his feelings for Robin to prove his Best Man-ability—which proved more difficult than housing pigeons—and Robin had to try and make a “girl” friend to comfort Lily. Also more difficult than housing pigeons. To say nothing of Aunt Ina. The show fooled me with last week’s cliffhanger: “I saw you and Robin at the carousel.” I definitely thought it was going to be that easy.I…am gullible.Barney and Ted dissect their conflicts in the face of Judge Marshall and the Bro Code, when Barney reveals he saw Ted comfort Robin by the carousel. Do you deem it...

And here I thought I would be done with cliffhangers, for one night of calm, collected TV viewing.Or did CBS just plan to air this sort of episode the day following the Breaking Bad series finale? Lily first finds Ted’s list of things to do before he leaves NY; things he needs to get out from his hat before he runs from (sorry, moves on from) the city he knows and loves. Talk to his upstairs neighbor about her thuddy shoes. Buy all of MacLaren’s a drink.Share a special shot of scotch with Barney. Secrets come out from the woodwork...

Are two episodes too much for one article? Have I been out of the writing loop for far too long? Has HIMYM spent too long a summer off the air? Perhaps. We better get started. I love that they didn’t repeat too many jokes. Too many. Telepathic conversations are more than okay. I also loved the balance in stars and guest stars. Who else feels like they’d have much better road trips with Daphne driving? I’d even let her pick the music just to hear her sing along. But two things stuck out in both episodes prevalently: the filmography, and...